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May 3
1800s *1895 - In National League action, Bobby Lowe scored six runs and had five hits, leading the Boston Beaneaters to a 27–11 rout of the Washington Senators. *1896: **The Louisville Colonels lose their 11th straight game, to the Cincinnati Reds, 5–3. **With an overflow crowd of 17,231 at West Side Grounds, the umpire ruled that any ball hit into the crowd is a ground-rule triple. The Chicago Colts took advantage and cracked nine triples, including three by Bill Dahlen, to crush the St. Louis Browns, 16–7. *1897 - With the New York Giants leading 7–0 after two innings, the Washington Senators started delaying the game in hopes that the imminent rainstorm will wash the game out. Umpire Tom Lynch forfeits the game to New York. *1898 - Jimmy Sheckard of the Brooklyn Bridegrooms hit a home run, two triples, and a single in a 9–6 voctory over the Philadelphia Phillies. The eleven total bases by Sheckard will be the season's one-game high mark. *1899 - Jack McCarthy of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a game-winning three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning when his drive into the corner goes through a door that a fan then shuts before the fielder can reach it. The National League eventually orders this game replayed. **Tom O'Brien of the New York Giants received perhaps the first intentional walk in major league history. In the eighth inning, with runners on second and third bases with one out, Ed Delahanty of the Philadelphia Phillies told teammate pitcher Jack Fifield to walk O'Brien, who have hit well all day. Then next batter, Fred Hartman, hit into a double play. 1900s *1904 - Pitcher Charles (Red) Ruffing is born in Granville, Illinois. Ruffing will win 273 games during a 22-year career with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox. He will gain election to the Hall of Fame in 1967. 1910s *1912 - Leading 18–5 after eight innings, Philadelphia Athletics pitchers gave up a record ninth-inning outburst of 10 runs to the New York Yankees before Eddie Plank stopped them at 18–15. *1913 - The Philadelphia Quakers defeated the visiting New York Giants for the third time in a row, a come-from-behind 3–2 victory. The Phillies tied the score at two apiece when Gavvy Cravath hit a two-run pinch- homer in the eighth inning off Christy Mathewson. After the first two batters were retired in the ninth, Philadelphia pushed across a run in to win. The struggling Giants are in fifth place. 1920s *1927 - In the first matchup of pitching brothers in major league history, Jesse Barnes defeated his brother Virgil Barnes in the Brooklyn Dodgers 7–6 victory over the New York Giants. 1930s *1936 - Joe DiMaggio made his major league debut for the New York Yankees and had three hits in a 14–5 victory over the St. Louis Browns. *1938 - Lefty Grove of the Boston Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers, 4–3, marking the start of a personal 20-game winning streak at his home field, Fenway Park. Grove will not lose a game there until May 12, 1941. 1940s *1941 - Hank Gornicki of the St. Louis Cardinals pitched a one-hitter in his major league debut, beating the Philadelphia Phillies, 6–0. Stan Benjamin's single was the lone hit. For the Cardinals, it was their eight victory in a row. 1950s *1950 - New York Yankees pitcher Vic Raschi, troubled by the new rule that requires a one-second stop before delivery with men on base, balks four times in one game, a club record and two fewer than the single-season record. Nevertheless, Raschi wins, 4–3, over the Chicago White Sox. He will finish the season with six balks to tie the since-topped American League mark. *1951 - New York Yankees rookie Gil McDougald tied a major league record by driving in six runs in one inning. McDougald hit a grand slam and a two-run triple in the ninth inning of a 17–3 demolition of the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park. The record will eventually be broken by Fernando Tatis of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1999. *1952 - The Cleveland Indians]] set a record when they used 23 players in a regular game against the Boston Red Sox, including the first black battery in American League history. Quincy Trouppe was the catcher when pitcher Sam Jones came to relief. *1959: **Charlie Maxwell of the Detroit Tigers hit four consecutive home runs in a doubleheader sweep of the New York Yankees, 4–2 and 8–2, at Briggs Stadium. **Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Hank Foiles made a rare unassisted double play in a 2–1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. 1960s *1961 - Another brilliant Warren Spahn performance was spoiled when left fielder Mel Roach's misplay avoided the Milwaukee Braves ace a second no-hitter in a row. Spahn settled for a two-hitter in topping the Dodgers 4–1. *1963: **In his first and only at bat with the Baltimore Orioles, pitcher Buster Narum hit a home run off Don Mossi of the Cleveland Indians. Six days later, Narum will be optioned to Triple-A Rochester but will return to the majors next year with the Washington Senators, where he will hit two more home runs. Narum became the first pitcher to have more homers than wins in a season, but he will be matched on September 2 by Ed Hobaugh, and in 1992 by Dave Eiland. **Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds hit his first major league home run off St. Louis Cardinals ace Ernie Broglio. *1964 - Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants hit four home runs against the Hanshin Tigers, establishing a new Japanese League record for most home runs in a game and tying the major league record held by seven players. 1970s *1975 - Cincinnati Reds manager Sparky Anderson decided to switch Pete Rose from left field to third base, opening a lineup spot for promising slugger George Foster. Over the next four seasons, Foster will average 36 home runs, 117 RBI, and a .302 batting average to help the Reds to two World Championships. *1979 - Bobby Bonds of the Cleveland Indians hit his 300th carerer home run against Moose Haas in a 6–1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. Bonds has collected 413 stolen bases at the time and becomes the second player, after Willie Mays, to have 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases. 1980s *1980: **Ferguson Jenkins of the Texas Rangers became the fourth pitcher in major league history to win 100 or more games in each league. Jenkins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3–2 at Stadium], as he joined Cy Young, Jim Bunning and Gaylord Perry in the exclusive club. **Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants hit his 521th and final career home runs against Scott Sanderson of the Montreal Expos, helping the Giants to a 3–2 win. His shot tied him with Ted Williams on the all-time list. McCovey will enter the Hall of Fame in 1986. *1986: **Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Cey hit his 300th and 301st career home runs and Chicago scores four times in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Giants 6–5. **Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly connected for three sacrifice flies in a 9–4 victory over the Rangers. Mattingly became only the sixth major leaguer to accomplish this feat. 1990s *1992 - At the age of 25, Baltimore Orioles closer Gregg Olson became the youngest pitcher in majoor league history to record 100 saves. *1995 - Rookie third baseman David Bell made his debut with the Cleveland Indians in a 14–7 victory over Detroit. His appearance represented the third generation of his family to play in the major leagues. David’s father, Buddy, and his grandfather, Gus, previously starred in the big leagues. The Bells became the second three-generation family in major league history, joining the Boone family (Ray, Bob, Bret and Aaron). Gus Bell will die four days later. *1998 - Dan Wilson of the Seattle Mariners hit the first inside-the-park grand slam in the franchise's history. *1999: **For the first time, Cuba faced a major league competition in the United States, and its national team defeated the struggling Baltimore Orioles, 12–6. **Creighton Gubanich of the Boston Red Sox hit a grand slam for his first major league hit in a 12–11, 10-inning loss to Oakland at McAfee Coliseum. Gubanich became the fourth major leaguer to accomplish the feat and the first since Seattle's Orlando Mercado did it on September 19, 1982. 2000s *2000 - The Colorado Rockies defeated the Montreal Expos, 16–7, setting a team record in the process by stroking 24 hits. Todd Helton went 5-for-5 in the contest, while all nine Colorado starters get at least one hit and one RBI each. *2001 - Johnny Oates resigned as the Texas Rangers manager and will be replaced by the team's third base coach Jerry Narron. A poor start of 11-17 due to a lack of pitching, and owner Tom Hicks high expectations after signing prized free agent Alex Rodriguez had led to speculation the Texas skipper would soon be fired. *2005: **With a 9-0 margin, a state legislative committee votes to approve a bill which will require the Los Angeles Angels, formerly known as the Anaheim Angels, to disclose on all promotional material, including tickets, ads and team publications that the team is based in Anaheim. Using the example of an orange juice company selling OJ that contains no oranges, California Assemblyman Tom Umberg, the bill's sponsor, says he is trying to promote truth in sports advertising. **The Chicago White Sox, with the best record in the majors, established a big league record having led in all 28 games played to this point in the season. *2006: **A group led by local real estate magnate Theodore Lerner has won the bidding to own the Washington Nationals, Major League Baseball confirmed, ending a long selection process involving eight contenders. **The Florida Senate approved an amendment that put the Marlins back in the game for a new ballpark at a site in northwest Miami Dade County. **Jonathan Papelbon of the Boston Red Sox gave up his first run of the season since becoming Boston's closer, allowing Russ Adams' tiebreaking double in the ninth inning that gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 7–6 victory at Fenway Park. Papelbon was named the American League rookie of the month with 10 saves in 10 tries and a 0.00 ERA in April. Births *1857 - George Gore, player and manager (d.1933) *1891 - Eppa Rixey, Hall of Fame pitcher (d. 1963) *1892 - Del Baker, manager (d. 1973) *1905 - Red Ruffing, Hall of Fame pitcher (d. 1986) *1916 - Ken Silvestri, player and manager (d. 1992) *1920 - Dan Bankhead, pitcher (d. 1976) *1934 - Chuck Hinton, All-Star outfielder *1938 - Chris Cannizzaro, All-Star catcher *1945 - Davey Lopes, All-Star infielder and manager *1972 - Darren Dreifort, pitcher *1977 - Ryan Dempster, All-Star pitcher *1883 - Chief Bender, Hall-of-Fame pitcher (d. 1954) Deaths *1894 - Bob Ferguson, player and manager (b. 1845) *1935 - Ted Breitenstein, pitcher (b. 1869) *1958 - Al Maul, pitcher (b. 1865) *1979 - Tom Jenkins, outfielder (b. 1932) *1996 - Alex Kellner, All-Star pitcher (b. 1924) *1999 - Joe Adcock, All-Star infielder and manager (b. 1927) *2004 - Darrell Johnson, manager (b. 1928)